PowerBook clicking noise

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hey guys,

I have a PowerBook that is about 3 months old at this point. I noticed that after it has been running for a while, e.g. multiple days (it does go to sleep though at night and sometimes during the day), or when the casing gets hot that there is a weird clicking noise coming from underneath the trackpad. Is that the harddrive? I would think that's all it could be, but I do not know if the hard drive is located underneath the trackpad. Sometimes it even happens when the casing isn't hot.

So I booted up from the Apple CD yesterday and did the extensive hardware tests and it passed them all, then I used TechToolPro 4 and did the extensive hard drives tests on it. No errors there. I am not sure if this is normal. I upgraded my hard drive to the 80 gig @ 5400 rpm, could this be a reason why? I would think not. Does anyone have any ideas or advice. Should I contact Apple? I am just worried about my hard drive going back or something happeneing. Thanks in advance.



Brian

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    fred_ljfred_lj Posts: 607member
    Did you upgrade the hard drive yourself? Depending on how you went about it, you can probably get warrantied repair on either the defective hard disk or installation (if that's the case). Usually you'll be able to tell if the hard drive's about to die. It will be a "clicking" like no other you've heard....a sick, boding clicking. But it could (and probably is) be a normal sound, too.



    Yes, it's under the trackpad -- unless things have changed dramatically since the Ti's were the current model.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    fiddlerfiddler Posts: 36member
    I got this on on my G3 900 iBook, just a few days ago... Same symptoms, same situation. Left my iBook on for maybe 2 days, it was getting unusually hot underneath... then every time the hard drive accessed data, disturbing clicking noises!



    I just let it cool off for a few hours by letting it sleep, and the clicking hasn't come back yet. *knock on wood*
  • Reply 3 of 3
    escherescher Posts: 1,811member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DCmac32

    I am not sure if this is normal.



    The clicking sound is the read head of the disk drive returning to its resting position. The clicking sound is perfectly normal and shouldn't be cause for concern. (I worried about my clicking iBook as well, until I learned the proper explanation.)



    Escher
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